Park Ridge aldermen have loosened a policy that prevented elected officials from voting if they were participating in a regular City Council meeting by phone.

The council on Monday formally approved an amended policy on electronic meeting participation, allowing elected officials vote at all meetings. Previously, the policy allowed voting only at committee meetings, where action is not final.

Aldermen discovered the limitation in July when 1st Ward Ald. John Moran attended a City Council meeting by phone, and a review of the city policy revealed he could not vote on any motions.

In the last several years, aldermen have not typically participated in council meetings remotely.

City Attorney Julie Tappendorf told the council in July that Park Ridge's policy was stricter than a state statute on electronic voting by elected officials.

The city's policy, as it was approved, allows an elected official to take part in a meeting remotely due to personal illness or injury, personal employment reasons, city business or an emergency situation. Officials attending remotely do not count toward a quorum, which is required in order for the meeting to occur, and they cannot participate in closed session discussions, the policy says.

On Monday, 3rd Ward Ald. Rick Van Roeyen attempted to change some of the language of the revised policy, which requires the mayor or committee chair to share the reason why a member of the council is participating in a meeting by phone if that person does not give at least 48 hours notice. Van Roeyen said this should not be required because the reason might be personal and something the elected official might not want included in the public record.

Van Roeyen's motion failed to received support from the majority of the council.

"I don't see the point of this at all," Moran said. "If you're out of town at work, it should be known you're out of town at work if that's the reason you keep missing [meetings]."

The Park Ridge Public Library this year expanded its own rules on electronic meeting participation by removing a restriction that allowed only one member of the board of trustees to take part in a meeting by phone or computer technology. The new language does not place a limit on how many trustees can take part in a single meeting electronically, though, like the City Council, these trustees do not count toward a quorum.